iBack to That?
by shana852963
Summary: How did Sam react to this "new little crush" Freddie says he has on Carly? Well, probably the way one would be expected to act after one's heart is trampled on. Set after iOaR *Oneshot*


"_Wait…you got a new little crush on her?" _

"_What? Pfft, no." _

"…_Well go." _

"…_Bye." _

So he was doing this again? The whole lovesick-over-Carly thing, that is. Was this the eighth grade all over again?

"Wow, we made a ton of money today," Gibby said, opening the cash register.

"Business was good," Sam nodded, snapping out of her thoughts. She picked up the pan filled with all the extra meat for the Hot Meat sandwiches. She looked at it and then dumped it in the trash bag.

Gibby frowned. "Don't you usually eat all of the leftovers?"

"I'm not really hungry," Sam mumbled. "You need help with those dishes?"

Gibby shook his head. "Um…no?" Sam never offered to help clean up.

"Okay, well then I'm gonna head home," Sam said, picking up her bag.

"Alright," Gibby said. "Oh, hold on, I'll give you your cut for today."

"It's fine, just give it to me tomorrow," Sam said, starting up the steps.

Gibby frowned again. "Um, Sam, are you alright?"

Sam turned back around to look at Gibby. He had a serious expression on his face.

"I'm fine, Gib," she replied, giving him a small smile. "See you tomorrow for the breakfast rush."

"Okay," Gibby shrugged. "Oh, hey Sam? If you're not going to eat all that meat can I bring it home for my cat? He likes hiding it around our house and finding it later."

"Um, sure, whatever," Sam said.

"Sweet!"

The sky was already getting dark. Sam looked at her watch. School had ended five hours ago. She started in the direction of Bushwell Plaza, but then stopped. On second thought, maybe she _didn't_ want to go there tonight. She turned and headed towards her own home.

As usual, her mom wasn't home. She had left a note saying she gone to some new reptile zoo that was open until midnight with her new boyfriend and that there was some ketchup in the fridge for dinner. Well, at least she was trying.

Sam grabbed a bottle of iced tea and then headed upstairs to her room. She flung her bag onto the floor and laid down on her bed.

She thought this was over. She thought Freddie had gotten over that puppy dog crush on Carly, but no, apparently it was still going strong.

_Why Carly?_ She thought miserably. Sure, she wouldn't have been happy with any girl he decided to have a crush on, but really, he had to pick her best friend? The girl who she constantly was outshined by? That girl got every guy that walked the halls of Ridgeway, and now she got Freddie too?

_It's not Carly's fault_, Sam told herself firmly. Still, though, she was finding it hard not to have just a little bit of resentment towards her best friend right now.

Sam looked at her calendar. Seven months. It had been seven months since her and Freddie had broken up. During that seven months neither of them had made any mention of their relationship. But neither of them had dated anyone either.

_What happened to us loving each other?_ Sam thought sadly. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she shut her eyes, determined not to spill any tonight. She was Sam, after all. _Didn't us telling each other we loved the other count for anything?_

No, apparently not, because according to a text she had gotten earlier from Carly, Freddie was trying to get Carly to love him too.

She sighed as she sat up. Yup, he was following Carly around trying to get her to proclaim her love for him again. It really _was_ happening again.

Back in eighth grade, when Freddie had _really_ been going strong on his crush on Carly, it had been annoying to her. But it bothered her in a different way; she had just been jealous back then because it there Carly was, completely perfect with her brain-dead admirer to finish off the deal. She had wanted _someone_ who would treat her like that, she just didn't know whom.

Now, years later, she realized who she wanted, and that's why this whole thing hurt about ten times more then before. Now that they had had their first kiss together, gone on dates together, said those three words to each other…

_He wanted someone more normal,_ Sam reminded herself. _And let's face it, Carly is a heck of a lot more normal than I'll ever be. _

Not that she hadn't been trying. Hadn't he noticed that since their break-up, Sam had only gotten into trouble once (that time at the Fat Cake factory), hadn't severely wounded anyone or even ditched school. But she still couldn't compete with Carly, could she?

Sam ran her hands through her hair. She hated this feeling. This was exactly why she didn't like relationships or opening up to anybody. Carly always told her that it was good to get close to people, but that was because Carly had never gone through what she was going through right now.

Getting up off her bed, Sam headed for her closet and picked up a shoebox and the paper shredder her mom had bought her for her sixth birthday. She plugged in the shredder and sat down in the middle of her floor.

As much as she hated to admit it, it looked like there was nothing she could do. Freddie was in love with Carly again and had forgotten all about her. Just like in the old days. Maybe this was the only way to make herself feel a little better…

She opened the lid of the shoebox, revealing a large stack of papers. They were the love emails that her and Freddie had exchanged while they were dating. She had told everyone she had done this months ago but, well, she had lied.

She picked up the top letter and glanced at it.

_I know I told you this during our date tonight,_ she read. _But I wanted to tell you again. You looked really beautiful. You remember when we finished eating and you ran out to the car because you didn't want the waiter to yell at you for using all of the barbecue sauce from three tables? Well, after I paid I was on my way out when this guy stopped me. He seemed pretty nice, and he said he had seen us come in. Anyway, he told me that you looked amazing in that dress you wore. At first I thought he was hitting on you and I was getting ready to tell him off, when he smiled and told me I was a real lucky guy. He said he saw the way we acting at dinner and said that he hadn't seen a couple acting so…in sync ever. He said that I should never let you go, or take you for granted, because even though he didn't know me, he could tell I would never be as happy as I was tonight with any other girl. And you know what I told him? I told him I knew that. He was right, Sam. There's no other girl who could ever make me feel the same way I do when I'm around you. You're the only girl out there who could make me this happy. _

Sam read the letter over again. Clearly there was another girl who could make him feel that way… She turned on the shredder and prepared to send the paper through. She lowered the paper so that it was barely a centimeter from the machine.

_Just do it,_ she told herself. _It's just a stupid piece of paper…_

She lowered the paper, and the corner of it reached the machine, but then Sam yanked it back and unplugged the shredder.

She couldn't do it. No matter whom Freddie was with, no matter how awful she was feeling, she just couldn't destroy those letters. She stuffed the paper back into the shoebox and then kicked it under her bed.

_Freddie loved Carly_, she said to herself. And then, forgetting her tough-girl attitude and her no-cry policy, she felt a lump in her throat and a stream of tears fall from her eyes.

It was never going to get easier to admit that, she realized. Not so long as she still loved him. And she didn't think she'd ever be able to get rid of that feeling.

….

**AN- Not going to lie, I was very upset with the shipping portion of iOpen a restaurant. The overall plot was very funny, especially that whole bar fight scene and Mrs. Benson getting pelted in the face and torso with popcorn kernels, but I thought Freddie's crush on Carly was over! He told Sam he loves her and now he's going to go after her best friend? Dan…I hope you have something up your sleeve; that's all I can say. **


End file.
